Milton Police Reports More Than A Dozen Unemployment Fraud Calls

Scott Souza
·1 min read

MILTON, MA — Milton police said they have received more than a dozen reports from residents being targeted as part of what is believed to be a nationwide unemployment fraud scheme during the coronavirus health crisis.

Police said residents received letters from the Office of Unemployment Assistance confirming unemployment benefits, yet never received benefits. Police said the victims likely had their identities compromised in an earlier data breach, and were having their benefits rerouted to a fraudulent account.

Milton police believe this is part of a nationwide fraud effort.

The fraudulent claims have led to delays in processing weekly unemployment payments as the Massachusetts Department of Labor places individual calls to people who have filed for unemployment benefits to verify their identity.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that another 37,740 Massachusetts residents filed for first time unemployment benefits for the week ended May 23. The Massachusetts unemployment rate of 15.1 percent in April was the highest since the Great Depression.

The Office of Unemployment Assistance is setting up an on-line portal for victims who receive this letter to report the fraud directly to the state. Milton police said they will continue to take identity theft reports and a detective will be assigned to follow-up each report.

Patch Editor Dave Copeland contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on the Milton Patch